(Un)presidential power

By now, it must have risen way above the surface how (un)presidential power interlocking with the turn of events is being exercised. The much-vaunted “the best and the brightest” recruited into this administration just fell like dominoes until all the “Four Masketeers” of the economic team had fallen from grace.

There results sheer personal improvisation as a matter of expediency in the way FM Jr. strategized the immediate replacement of key officials resigning from his Cabinet. The paradigm shift from a merit-based metric to selection along political lines only widens the cracks that now come into focus — a weak modality intended not to upset the apple cart.

These PhD holders are no par excellence stereotypes, after all, presumably due to old age or intellectual barrier since most on the average are past their 70s (Pascual 76, Diokno 76, Medalla 74, Balisacan 66). This renders the rule of compulsory retirement from government service at 56 for military and uniformed personnel and at 65 for civil service employees, respectively, a glaring empty rhetoric.

In the Armed Forces of the Philippines alone, there’s brewing discontent in the officer corps, factionalism if you will, among the military elites who have always ruled over the affairs of both the defense and military establishments. Scholars in elite studies have failed to focus on the problems that have long afflicted the Philippine Military Academy alumni as a “power bloc,” specifically its “mistah culture” as well as its dead-letter “Honor Code,” its inimical effects on the entire organization notwithstanding.

The only question begging an answer, if one follows the line of reasoning built along revered military tradition, is on whether or not the “underclassmen” can rule over a universe of “upperclassmen” in the military’s monolithic and hierarchical setup. After all, the military is one of two classic management models, the other being the Church; and favoritism is simply taboo, in both.

Neither can the latest Social Weather Stations survey save the President from relative disgrace for misaligned policy choices that now problematize the full replacement of his original economic team with non-PhDs. In the higher scheme of things, there’s good ground to believe that those who earned their doctoral degrees from the world’s Ivy League institutions have better chances of performing way above the mark than those with lower academic credentials.

In passing, what do the June survey findings tell us? At least, 55 percent of adult Filipinos are satisfied with the two years of FM Jr.’s presidency, 5 percentage points higher than in March. SWS classifies net satisfaction ratings of at least +70 as excellent; +50 to +69 as very good; +30 to +49 as good. Ordinarily, however, this calibration could be questionable, to even consider below 50 a good rating. Overarchingly, only 8 percent think the President’s visits to other countries have many benefits.

Came the issue on virtually a “transfer of funds” or a “re-alignment of the budget” in the case of the P90 billion resting in PhilHealth’s fiscal bloodstream of which P20 billion has already been absorbed by the National Treasury. Irrespective of the government finding any legal basis for doing so, the fact remains that on all money matters, no one can designate which bundles of cash go to this or that as they are absolutely indistinguishable.

What about that P50 billion for a 67-kilometer PPP road infrastructure project called Toll Road 4 at the South Luzon Expressway extending from Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Tayabas/Lucena City in Quezon? It’s literally the same amount allocated for the AFP Modernization Program to upgrade its defense capability to deal with the West Philippine Sea issue.

Still, toll roads of the TR4 type are not completely classified as a public good. Ask a PA (public administration) scholar if “publicness” exists where only local people use the referenced toll roads – characteristically rivalrous and exclusionary. Stupid is as stupid does, the recent flooding brought by typhoon “Carina” was classic proof of an epic “money heist.”